I Transnational Trickster: Publishing, Representing, and Marketing Dany Laferrière by Sandie Blaise Department of Romance Studi
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Transnational Trickster: Publishing, Representing, and Marketing Dany Laferrière by Sandie Blaise Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Laurent Dubois, Supervisor ___________________________ Deborah Jenson ___________________________ Anne-Gaëlle Saliot ___________________________ Richard Rosa Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2019 i v ABSTRACT Transnational Trickster: Publishing, Representing, and Marketing Dany Laferrière by Sandie Blaise Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Laurent Dubois, Supervisor ___________________________ Deborah Jenson ___________________________ Anne-Gaëlle Saliot ___________________________ Richard Rosa An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2019 Copyright by Sandie Blaise 2019 Abstract This dissertation uses Haitian-Canadian writer Dany Laferrière’s transnational trajectory as a focal point for a study of the relationship between literature, marketing, power, and creative agency. It analyzes Laferrière’s literary career over the span of thirty years (1985-2018), his portrayal in the press and his work’s packaging and reception in the three places the author has been published in the original French language: Quebec, France, and Haiti. Located at the intersection of cultural studies, literary theory, and postcolonial studies, my study explores the ways in which global migration has changed literary production and consumption, and shaped ideas about nationalism. In this analysis, I argue that Laferrière contributed to reshaping national definitions of literature in all three spaces, and that his work’s marketing and reception have revealed political, social, and cultural changes as well as manifestations of identity politics in all three contexts. Through combined analysis of Laferrière’s novels, film adaptations, interviews in the press, book covers, as well as personal interviews that I conducted with his publishers, this study offers a holistic analysis of the cultural, political, and economic dimensions of literary production and circulation in the French-speaking world and contiguous languages like Haitian Creole. Drawing from Laferrière’s packaging in Quebec and France, the study sheds a new light on the way images of Haiti are constructed in the Western imaginary and how paratext mediates discourses about iv Caribbean writers. Through the study of the writer’s Haitian publication and Creole translation, my work also offers critical insights into the dynamic power of the Haitian book industry, which scholars have largely overlooked. Finally, by tracing the various factors that enabled Laferrière to emerge and paying particular attention to his recent election to the French Academy, this dissertation illuminates the mechanisms of literary consecration as well as his own creative “trickster” strategy to position himself in the global marketplace. Ultimately, I argue that Laferrière’s transnational trajectory offers a unique lens into the interconnected relationships between literature, markets, postcolonial authors, and nationalism. v Dedication In loving memory of my grandmother Lucienne Blaise who taught me how to read, nurtured my passion for learning and inspired me to dream big. vi Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... xii Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Publishing, Representing, and Marketing Dany Laferrière in Québec ........................... 13 1.1 At the Nexus of Racial, Linguistic, and Political Spaces ........................................... 16 1.2 From National to Global Through Racial and Sexist Tropes .................................... 47 1.3 Book Packaging and Quebec’s “dual discourse” on Haiti and Haitians ................ 69 2. Publishing, Representing, and Marketing Dany Laferrière in Haiti ................................ 85 2.1 A Literary Outcast ........................................................................................................... 87 2.2 Dany Laferrière’s Return through Writing ................................................................. 97 2.3 Laferrière's Repatriation to Haiti ................................................................................ 107 2.4 Da/L'odeur du café: A Creole Translation ................................................................. 130 2.5 Dany Laferrière Today: “Immortal” or Traitor? ....................................................... 152 3. Publishing, Representing, and Marketing Dany Laferrière in France ........................... 160 3.1 Dany Laferrière's Entrance in the French Literary Space ........................................ 162 3.2 Images & Tropes of Haiti ............................................................................................. 176 3.3 From “Francophone” to “Immortal”: The Making of a Brand ............................... 197 3.4 Dany Laferrière’s Trickster Strategy .......................................................................... 219 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 251 vii Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 255 Biography .................................................................................................................................... 274 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer, VLB, 1985 ................... 16 Figure 2: Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer, VLB, 1985 ................... 17 Figure 3: Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer, VLB, 1989 ................... 49 Figure 4: Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer, Film Poster, 1989 ....... 50 Figure 5: Le Déclin de l’empire américain, 1986, Quebecois Film Poster ............................ 55 Figure 6: Le Déclin de l'empire américain, 1986, French Film Poster .................................. 55 Figure 7: L’odeur du café, VLB, 1991 ........................................................................................ 70 Figure 8: Le charme des après-midi sans fin, Lanctôt, 1997 .................................................. 70 Figure 9: Pays sans chapeau, Lanctôt, 1996 ............................................................................. 72 Figure 10: Le cri des oiseaux fous, Lanctôt, 2000 .................................................................... 74 Figure 11: L’odeur du café, Typo, 1999 .................................................................................... 75 Figure 12: Chronique de la dérive douce, VLB, 1994 ............................................................. 76 Figure 13: Chronique de la dérive douce, Boréal, 2012 .......................................................... 77 Figure 14: J’écris comme je vis, Lanctôt, 2000 .......................................................................... 78 Figure 15: J’écris comme je vis, Boréal, 2010 ............................................................................ 78 Figure 16: Je suis fatigué, Lanctôt, 2001 .................................................................................... 79 Figure 17: L’odeur du café, Zémès, 2013 ................................................................................ 124 Figure 18: L’odeur du café, Zémès, 2013 ................................................................................ 125 Figure 19: Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer, Belfond, 1989 ......... 165 Figure 20: Alléluia pour une femme-jardin, Gallimard, 1982 ............................................. 167 ix Figure 21: Alléluia pour une femme-jardin, Gallimard (Folio), 1986 ................................. 168 Figure 22: Le mât de cocagne, Gallimard, 1979 ..................................................................... 175 Figure 23: Le charme des après-midi sans fin, Le Serpent à Plumes, 1998 ....................... 180 Figure 24: Pays sans chapeau, Le Serpent à Plumes, 1999 ................................................... 180 Figure 25: Le cri des oiseaux fous, Le Serpent à Plumes, 2000 ............................................ 181 Figure 26: L’odeur du café, Le Serpent à Plumes, 2001 ........................................................ 182 Figure 27: Le grand cri Caraïbe, Le Serpent à Plumes, 2002 ............................................... 183 Figure 28: En attendant le bonheur, Robert Laffont, 1997 ................................................... 185 Figure 29: Eau de Café, Le Livre de Poche, 1993 ..................................................................